Mail Service On A Sunday: There`s No Rest For The Weary

Seeing the letter carrier walking up their steps on Sunday gave people a start.

It was as unexpected as coming across a restaurant offering the Early Bird Special until closing time, or a church holding its weekly services on Thursday mornings.

``Is it my imagination, or is this Sunday?`` Julie Silverstein asked as Douglas Wigand, the man in the U.S. Mail baseball cap, strode up her driveway on Newburg Avenue.

``Yes, it`s Sunday all right,`` Wigand replied, handing her a modest stack of cards, across the chain-link fence, where the sign read, ``Beware Bad Dog,`` a reference to her bulldog, Horace.

``I`m shocked,`` she said.

So were many of the people along Route 13, the 9-mile, Norwood Park section of ZIP Code 60631, that Wigand has walked for a dozen years, but, as the song says, ``never on a Sunday.``

After more than two decades` absence, Sunday mail delivery returned to Chicago, on the first day in 15 that the sun has appeared.

Wigand, a boyish-looking 40-year-old who says the route keeps him thin, began delivering mail 22 years ago, just after graduating from Von Steuben High School.

Wigand started the work week last Monday, and probably will be working through Christmas on the route that includes delivery to his own condominium. ``I think Doug needs a day off,`` Jerry Pentimone said with a smile, when his mail arrived at his home on Newburg Avenue.

The Postal Service believed otherwise, offering to give Chicago mail carriers time and a half for simultaneously delivering its backlog of mail and providing a symbol of good will for much-maligned mail delivery.

acting manager Phil Sauleiko said over the public addres system. ``Please make sure you make the correct deliveries.``

It was a light day for Wigand, who had only about half his usual load of about 2,200 pieces.

It was a quiet day too. The nearby shopping centers were mayhem, but along Route 13, the only sound was the rattle of Wigand`s mail cart.

From 10:02 a.m. to 3:12 p.m., with a quick break for cheeseburger and chicken soup, Wigand walked the route where people know him by name and describe him as the best mailman there is.

``They`ll be happy if they get checks in the mail, and unhappy if they get bills,`` Wigand said.

But his Sunday load was largely Christmas cards, and people seemed happy to see Wigand regardless of what he was bringing.

Wigand`s face showed signs of the winter chill Sunday, but he walked the route as he usually does, wearing a short-sleeved shirt, a sweater, a lightweight jacket, summer-weight pants and one pair of socks.

``I like the freedom of being alone on the street,`` he said. ``I couldn`t imagine being in the office.``

Being outside led him to the rescue of ducklings from the Metra tracks and, just Saturday, to help a wayward kitten. There have been two dog bites, but none of them on Route 13.

``Here,`` he said, ``I`ve known all the dogs here since they were puppies.``